They will answer: 'We have spent there a day, or part of a day; but ask those who [are able to] count [time]…"*

[Woe unto him* who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard,

For, had they been [truly] desirous of setting out [with thee], they would surely have made some preparation therefor: but God was averse to their taking the field, and so He caused them to hold back when it was said, "[You may] stay at home with all [the others] who stay at home."*

and which We shall not delay beyond a term set [by Us].*

O YOU who have attained to faith! If you marry believing women and then divorce them ere you have touched them, you have no reason to expect, and to calculate, any waiting period on their part:* hence, make [at once] provision for them, and release them in a becoming manner.*

Hence, be not in haste [to call down God's punishment] upon them: for We but number the number of their days.*

indeed, He has full cognizance of them, and has numbered them with [unfailing] numbering;

He it is who has made the sun a [source of] radiant light and the moon a light [reflected],* and has determined for it phases so that you might know how to compute the years and to measure [time]. None of this has God created without [an inner] truth.* Clearly does He spell out these messages unto people of [innate] knowledge:

And We have established the night and the day as two symbols;* and thereupon We have effaced the symbol of night and set up [in its place] the light giving symbol of day,* so that you might seek to obtain your Sustainer's bounty and be aware of the passing years* and of the reckoning [that is bound to come]. For clearly, most clearly, have We spelt out everything!*

And thereupon We veiled their ears in the cave* for many a year,

[And] He will ask [the doomed]: “What number of years have you spent on earth?"

[Let them, then, wait] until the time when they behold that [doom] of which they were forewarned:* for then they will come to understand which [kind of man] is more helpless and counts for less!*

so as to make manifest that it is indeed [but] their Sustainer's messages that these [apostles] deliver: for it is He who encompasses [with His knowledge] all that they have [to say],* just as He takes count, one by one, of everything [that exists].

And they say, "The fire will most certainly not touch us for more than a limited number of days."* Say [unto them]: "Have you received a promise from God - for God never breaks His promise - or do you attribute to God something which you cannot know?"

[fasting] during a certain number of days.* But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person.* And whoever does more good than he is bound to do* does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves - if you but knew it.

And bear God in mind during the appointed days;* but he who hurries away within two days shall incur no sin, and he who tarries longer shall incur no sin, provided that he is conscious of God. Hence, remain conscious of God, and know that unto Him you shall be gathered.

simply because they claim, "The fire will most certainly not touch us for more than a limited number of days":* and thus the false beliefs which they invented have [in time] caused them to betray their faith.*

And thus it is: if We defer their suffering until a time-limit set [by Us],* they are sure to say, "What is preventing it [from coming now]?"* Oh, verily, on the Day when it befalls them there will be nothing to avert it from them; and they shall be overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.*

And they sold him for a paltry price - a mere few silver coins: thus low did they value him.

And [always] does He give you something out of what you may be asking of Him;* and should you try to count God's blessings, you could never compute them. [And yet,] behold, man is indeed most persistent in wrongdoing, stubbornly ingrate!

For, should you try to count God's blessings, you could never compute them! Behold, God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace;

Hence, be not in haste [to call down God's punishment] upon them: for We but number the number of their days.*

indeed, He has full cognizance of them, and has numbered them with [unfailing] numbering;

And [so, O Muhammad,] they challenge thee to hasten the coming upon them of [God's] chastisement:* but God never fails to fulfill His promise - and, behold, in thy Sustainer's sight a day is like a thousand years of your reckoning.*

He governs all that exists, from the celestial space to the earth; and in the end all shall ascend unto Him [for judgment] on a Day the length whereof will be [like] a thousand years of your reckoning.*

And they will add: “How is it that we do not see [here any of the] men whom we were wont to count among the wicked,

[fasting] during a certain number of days.* But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person.* And whoever does more good than he is bound to do* does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves - if you but knew it.

It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see* this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required], and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him].

BEHOLD, the number of months, in the sight of God, is twelve months, [laid down] in God's decree on the day when He created the heavens and the earth; [and] out of these, four are sacred:* this is the ever-true law [of God]. Do not, then, sin against* yourselves with regard to these [months]. And fight against those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God, all together-just as they fight against you, [O believers,] all together* -and know that God is with those who are conscious of Him.

The intercalation [of months] is but one more instance of [their] refusal to acknowledge the truth-* [a means] by which those who are bent on denying the truth are led astray. They declare this [intercalation] to be permissible in one year and forbidden in [another] year,* in order to conform [outwardly] to the number of months which God has hallowed: and thus they make allowable what God has forbidden.* Goodly seems unto them the evil of their own doings, since God does not grace with His guidance people who refuse to acknowledge the truth.

[And in times to come] some will say,* "[They were] three, the fourth of them being their dog," while others will say, "Five, with their dog as the sixth of them" -idly guessing at something of which they can have no knowledge -and [so on, until] some will say, "[They were] seven, the eighth of them being their dog." Say: "My Sustainer knows best how many they were. None but a few have any [real] knowledge of them. Hence, do not argue about them otherwise than by way of an obvious argument,* and do not ask any of those [story-tellers] to enlighten thee about them."

O YOU who have attained to faith! If you marry believing women and then divorce them ere you have touched them, you have no reason to expect, and to calculate, any waiting period on their part:* hence, make [at once] provision for them, and release them in a becoming manner.*

O PROPHET! When you* [intend to divorce women, divorce them with a view to the waiting period appointed for them,* and reckon the period [carefully], and be conscious of God, your Sustainer. Do not expel them from their homes;* and neither shall they [be made to] leave* unless they become openly guilty of immoral conduct.* These, then, are the bounds set by God - and he who transgresses the bounds set by God does indeed sin against himself: [for, O man, although] thou knowest it not, after that [first breach] God may well cause something new to come about.*

Now as for such of your women as are beyond, the age of monthly courses, as well as for such as do not have any courses,* their waiting-period - if you have any doubt [about it] - shall be three [calendar] months; and as for those who are with child, the end of their waiting-term shall come when they deliver their burden. And for everyone who is conscious of God, He makes it easy to obey His commandment:*

For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell];* and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth* - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ];* and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease* and the who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?"* In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides aright him that wills [to be guided].* And none can comprehend thy Sustainers forces save Him alone: and all this* is but a reminder to mortal man.

And if you cannot do it-and most certainly you cannot do it-then be conscious of the fire whose fuel is human beings and stones* which awaits all who deny the truth!

and beware of the fire which awaits those who deny the truth!

And vie with one another to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness and to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for the God-conscious

But whoever deliberately slays another be­liever, his requital shall be hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him, and will reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering.

Thus, when thou art among the believers* and about to lead them in prayer, let [only] part of them stand up with thee, retaining their arms. Then, after they have finished their prayer, let them provide you cover* while another group, who have not yet prayed, shall come forward and pray with thee, being fully prepared against danger and retaining their arms: (for) those who are bent on denying the truth would love to see you oblivious of your arms and your equipment, so that they might fall upon you in a surprise attack.* But it shall not be wrong for you to lay down your arms [while you pray] if you are troubled by rain* or if you are ill; but [always] be fully prepared against danger. Verily, God has readied shameful suffering for all who deny the truth!

Hence, make ready against them whatever force and war mounts* you are able to muster, so that you might deter thereby the enemies of God, who are your enemies as well,* and others besides them of whom you may be unaware, [but] of whom God is aware; and whatever you may expend* in God's cause shall be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.

For, had they been [truly] desirous of setting out [with thee], they would surely have made some preparation therefor: but God was averse to their taking the field, and so He caused them to hold back when it was said, "[You may] stay at home with all [the others] who stay at home."*

God has readied for them gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide: and this is the triumph supreme!

And as for the first and foremost of those who have forsaken the domain of evil and of those who have sheltered and succoured the Faith,* as well as those who follow them in [the way of] righteousness - God is well-pleased with them, and well--pleased are they with Him. And for them has He readied gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time: this is the triumph supreme!

so that [at the end of time] He might ask those men of truth as to [what response] their truthfulness [had received on earth].* And grievous suffering has He readied for all who deny the truth!

but if you desire God and His Apostle, and [thus the good of] the life in the hereafter, then [know that], verily, for the doers of good among you God has readied a mighty reward!"*

VERILY, for all men and women who have sur­rendered themselves unto God, and all believing men and believing women, and all truly devout men and truly devout women, and all men and women who are true to their word, and all men and women who are patient in adversity, and all men and women who humble themselves [before God], and all men and women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and self-denying women,* and all men and women who are mindful of their chastity,* and all men and women who remember God unceasingly: for [all of] them has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward.

On the Day when they meet Him, they will be welcomed with the greeting, “Peace"; and He will have readied for them a most excellent reward.

Verily, as for those who [knowingly] affront God and His Apostle - God will reject* them in this world and in the life to come; and shameful suffering will He ready for them.

Verily, God has rejected the deniers of the truth, and has readied for them a blazing fire,

And [God has willed] to impose suffering [in the life to come] on the hypocrites, both men and women, and on those who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, both men and women: all who entertain evil thoughts about God.* Evil encompasses them from all sides, and God's condemnation rests upon them; and He has rejected them [from His grace], and has readied hell for them: and how evil a journey's end!

[Hence,] vie with one another in seeking to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness,* and [thus] to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for those who have attained to faith in God and His Apostle:* such is the bounty of God which He grants unto whomever He wills - for God is limitless in His great bounty.

God has readied for them suffering severe [in the life to come]. Behold, evil indeed is what they are wont to do:

[the while] God has readied for them [yet more] suffering severe [in the life to come] Hence, remain conscious of God, O you who are endowed with insight - [you] who have attained to faith! God has indeed bestowed on you a reminder from on high:

He admits unto His grace everyone who wills [to be admitted];* but as for the evildoers - for them has He readied grievous suffering [in the life to come].